Demand for Plant-Based Products Up 140 Percent

Ingredients manufacturer Nellson says that revenue for plant-based food formulations rose by 38 percent last year—compared to only 2 percent for whey-based products.

Bart Child, CEO of ingredients-manufacturing company Nellson, has revealed that demand for plant-based formulations within his company has risen nearly 140 percent in 2016. “We are seeing an increased demand for plant-based formulations in both nutritional bars and powders,” Child told Foodnavigator. “[They] fulfill consumers’ desire for products with functional benefits from natural sources and simple labels with a short list of recognizable ingredients.” Child also revealed that while revenue at Nellson for whey-based formulations grew by only two percent in 2016, revenue for plant-based products grew by 38 percent. To meet demand, Nellson—which works with plant proteins derived from peas, soy, rice, potatoes, pumpkin, algae, black beans, chia, and hemp—plans to expand to a 300,000 square-foot production facility in Ontario, Canada in October. To capitalize on the demand for plant-based products, ingredients-manufacturing giant Roquette is currently building the world’s largest pea protein processing facility, at a cost of $400 million, in Manitoba, Canada.